India should engage with 'new China' confidently: PM

New Delhi, March 6: Noting that China was in the process of a leadership change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said India should engage with the "new China" confidently and constructively in the spirit of national consensus.

"We should engage the new China confidently and constructively in a spirit of national consensus. We will continue to manage our overall relations with China with maturity, recognising opportunities for common development and convergence of interests with China on many regional and global issues," the prime minister told the Lok Sabha.

He was replying to the discussion on the motion of thanks on President Pranab Mukherjee's address to a joint sitting of both houses of parliament.

According to the prime minister, the "new leaders" of China had conveyed to him their desire to strengthen the strategic communication and to forge a better future for bilateral relations.

"The new leaders of China have conveyed to me their desire to strengthen our strategic communication and to forge a better future for our relations," said the prime minister.